bedtime for Eggingarde
by pikianoa
Summary: set during Hiccup's stay as a slave. k for slight blood. Eggingarde requests a story, one with a happy ending.


**see, this is what happens when you give me reading options like 'Grimms fairytales' and 'How to train your dragon'.**

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Hiccup lay on his straw 'bed', staring up at the ceiling. the quiet snores of other slaves and the occasional shuffle of the unstill sleepers was the only noise in the dungeon. then he heard a closer shuffling and looked over to see Eggingarde shuffling closer to him on the straw. his mind immediatly wandered to the story she had told him the other night. the one about his best friend, Fishlegs.

"Hiccup? Are you awake?" The bear cloaked girl asked. Hiccup nodded and sat up slightly.

"What's up?" he asked quietly, not wanting to wake the other slaves.

"Could you tell me a story? maybe one with a happy ending, if you know any? i could use a little bit of happyness in this place." the girl spun some straw between her fingers, not making eye contact. Hiccup bit his lip and thought for a minute. then he remembered one Fishlegs had wrote, while practicing to make a living off stories and poems.

"Uh, yeah, actually. Yeah, lemme see, how does it start..? Ah! Okay..." Hiccup began on the story, trying to remember all the details.

"okay, once upon a time, there was a great king-" "what was the king named?" Eggingarde interupted. Hiccup thought for a minute. Fishlegs never gave him a name. he never gave any of the characters names.

"Bob. King Bob the IV. Once upon a time, the great king Bob ruled over the arcapelago. King Bob's wife had died a long time ago, and he was left with eight children. seven boys, and the oldest was a girl."

"what was the girl named?"

"Eggingarde. and she was beautiful. one day, the king met another woman, who we'll call Excellanor." Hiccup gave the woman a name before he was intterupted again. he could see Eggingarde cringe a little

"the wedding was held two days after they met. and it was a grand wedding. soon, Excellanor was pregnant. and she wanted her child to be the hier. but there were eight kids in the way of that. also, excellanor's a witch." Hiccup swore he could hear Eggingarde mumble 'I knew it' and had to stop himself from laughing.

"so, Excellanor went up to the seven sons and cast a spell on them, which turned them all into dragons." "What kind of dragons?" "uh... Deadly Nadders. and Eggingarde saw this happen, and watched as her brothers flew off. Excellanor then turned to her and said, 'You may deliver your brothers, but you must make them all cloaks of burrs and throw them over their backs to do so. and during the time you make those cloaks, you make not utter a laugh, let out a cry or even whisper a single word. you will be very dumb indeed.' and with that, Excellanor took Eggingarde to the deepest part of the forest and left her there. she then told King Bob that his children had died by dragon attack. the king grieved for his young, as any good father would do.

"seven years later, eggingarde is now a beautiful young adult. she still lives in the woods, making the cloaks. every now and then, she'll see her brothers flying around, doing dragon things. one day, men riding hunting dragons found her as she was picking burrs. a king, king fishlegs, was riding with them. he was enchanted by her beauty and asked her to come back with him and be his bride. she accepted.

"they got married, another grand wedding, and not three months later she was pregnant. though she never stopped making the cloaks. she had a baby as she was making the fourth cloak, and she named the child... bearcub. one day, as her seven brother came for a visit, she saw there were only six of them. then, into the room walked Excellanor. and she explained hat had happend. she said,'my husband has taking a certain disliking to dragons. he's been slaying them. from Monstrous Nightmares, to... Deadly Nadders." she grinned as Eggingarde realized what had happened. Eggingarde couldn't cry, for her other brothers would be lost, too. instead, she fainted.

"when Eggingarde woke up, her borthers, Excellanor and her baby were gone. a search was held, but no one could find the baby. a few months later, Eggingarde had almost finished the sixth cloak. and she had another baby. she and king fishlegs were asleep when Excellanor paid them another visit. she took the child, and cut her own hand. she rubbed the blood over Eggingarde's mouth. When the couple woke up, the child was gone and there was blood on the queens mouth. everyone but fishlegs screamed man eater, or witch. Fishlegs couldn't argue against it, so Eggingarde was to be burned at the stake that evening."

"What?!" Eggingarde said, a little too loudly. Hiccup looked around to see if anyone had woken up, but he could barly see eggingarde in front of him in this lighting.

"Let me finish the story. Eggingarde couldn't utter a word in her defense, so she was tied to a stake in town square. As she looked up to the dark sky, she could make out the six silloughettes of her brothers. she gave a small smile, but didn't dare laugh. the fire had been lit under her and the cloaks, (thought to be some sort of witchcraft,) sat near the fire, to be thrown in later. her brothers landed all around and started to extinguish the flames with their wings. when men tried to stop them, then simply threw them back. the fires went out and one of her brothers chewed through her ropes. Quickly, Eggingarde threw the cloaks over her brothers, and they turned back to normal. but the youngest, who's cloak was only almost finished, still had the wing of a dragon." Hiccup paused, trying to remember the rest.

"Is that how the story ends?" Eggingarde asked, a little dissapointed. Hiccup remembered yes, that was how it ended. she never saw her children again, and was banished for being a witch. ' _Jeez, fish. dark, much?'_ He remembered commenting. he decided to make a new ending for her.

"No, let me finish." Hiccup said for the third? third time that night.

"then, king fishlegs aproached the seven slowly. and for the first time in a long time, she opened her mouth and spoke. she told him the tale of how she could not speak, and how wicked her step mother had been. then, in the dark of the night, the clouds of smoke parted and revealed a bright white light. an angel of Valhalla apeared, followed by two children. Eggingarde recognized her two young ones, who immediatly ran to her. before Fishlegs or Eggingarde could thank the angel, she dissapeared and Excellanor, the witch stood on the ground below. she was burned in the fire meant for Eggingarde." Hiccup finished.

Eggingarde was silent as she stared at Hiccup. after a moment of proccessing the ending, she smiled and hugged Hiccup. "Oof!" Hiccup was being sqeazed rather tightly. soon she let go, though and curled into the haystack to fall asleep. Hiccup smiled as he looked down at the girl. then he heard clapping behind him. He turned, but still could't see anyone.

"Great story, uhh... Froggy McStinker." Hiccup heard the voice of stoick the fast, his father, say. He sighed at the fact his dad couldn't remember his fake name. "Thank you, sir." he said anyway, and settled down onto the hay to sleep, as well.

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 **so, last night, I got the last httyd book! yaaaayyyY! my dad lemme stay up late to read it and I got three fourths through! it's like, two inches thick! anyway, i'm sad it's ending. i'll finish reading it now. also, sorry about lack of updates on dreamcatching, i'm a little busy. thanksgiving is coming up, and things are gonna get scarier that Halloween. good thing I don't have too many relatives that are allowed to come visit. still chaos, though.**


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